Starts today. Prologue time trial in Liege, Belgium. Lots of time trial miles in this year's Tour which could hurt some of the usual contenders for the GC title and allow some others like Tony Martin in.

My picks:

GC - Bradley Wiggins
Mountains - Samuel Sanchez
Sprint - Mark Cavendish

6/30/2012 8:01:12 AM

My GC pick is Evans, although Wiggins has looked impressive this year so far. I also like Ryder Hesjedal. I think Garmin has the right kind of team this year to support him.

Not sure how the green jersey is gonna play out because they apparently made some changes to the way intermediate sprint points are scored. I think Sagan will dominate the sprints and Cav will probably have a pretty disappointing tour.

They apparently changed the mountains scoring too, but I could see Dan Martin contending there or even last year's Vuelta winner Cobo. Glad you made this thread.


Here is a nifty little fantasy Tour game. I am in the public group "Slowtwitch" and as far as I can tell, you can't be in multiple groups, but feel free to join in. It doesn't go live until stage 4.
http://nbcfantasy.stats.com/cycling/index.asp

6/30/2012 8:28:33 AM

Yeah, Cavendish being on the same team as Wiggins probably hurts him for a lot of the intermediate sprint points, but I think he'll still have a shot at a lot of the sprint finishes since Wiggins will have to be near the front in a lot of stages if he expects to win the GC. I expect team Sky to be near the front of the pelaton for large portions of this year's tour.

Peter Sagan could well win green, but I'm not sure what his team's strategy will be. They don't really have a legit GC contender, so they might be riding for Sagan, but they might also push to have Ivan Basso in position to make a run at yellow or polka dot if the opportunity presents itself.

6/30/2012 8:41:25 AM

Tough break for Tony Martin with the mechanical issue, he probably would have finished second if not for that.

Fabian Canciallera just destroyed the field though. 7 seconds better than 2nd place on a 4 mile course. That's just blistering the competition.

Cadel Evans can't be very happy having lost 10 seconds already to Wiggins. Hardly a disaster, but you know he'd like to have been closer.

We won't know anything about the real form of the top men until the first mountain stages, but a fun prologue to start out.

[Edited on June 30, 2012 at 11:50 AM. Reason : asdfs]

6/30/2012 11:47:15 AM

they should just change the name to the tour de doping

6/30/2012 2:51:58 PM

^ THIS

6/30/2012 3:57:34 PM

One could say the same thing about baseball.

Look, if you aren't interested don't participate in the thread.

6/30/2012 8:02:32 PM

I can't believe I'm the first to say this:

Who gives a fuck about grown men riding bicycles?

6/30/2012 8:03:36 PM

Quote :

"One could say the same thing about baseball. "

because every single good baseball player does steroids.

6/30/2012 8:14:28 PM

Bonds, Sosa, Big Mac, Manny, Clemens, Braun, A-Rod, and lots, and lots more. Let's not even get into how rampant it was pre-a couple years ago when they actually instituted testing.

So no, not every, but a not insignificant percentage. And if you start looking at those considered the best of the past generation an even higher percentage. Include those suspected but never caught and it continues to go up.

Here's a fun list.

http://www.baseballssteroidera.com/bse-list-steroid-hgh-users-baseball.html

[Edited on June 30, 2012 at 8:35 PM. Reason : asdfsadf]

6/30/2012 8:32:35 PM

are there any new American heroes to care about in this year's Tour?

6/30/2012 8:33:49 PM

Actually, there is a pretty decent group of American riders who could potentially contend. Tom Danielson looks strong, Levi Leipheimer is always near the top, Tyler Farrar could be in the hunt for the green jersey, Tejay Van Garderen is in the white jersey after the prologue... so yeah, maybe no American winner this year, but a pretty decent chance that an American wins in a couple of years.

6/30/2012 8:40:14 PM

chris horner has a chance to be on the podium as an American.

6/30/2012 8:42:48 PM

Who gives a fuck about grown men riding bicycles?

6/30/2012 8:44:19 PM

Me

6/30/2012 8:49:07 PM

Who give a fuck about a bunch of grown men ___________:

hitting golf balls
playing baseball
playing basketball
running
swimming
kicking a soccer ball
etc.

Massive, massive eye roll.

Virtually all professional sports are just grown men playing a silly game, but we watch because we are amazed by their athleticism or because it is aesthetically pleasing. Bicycle racing requires at least as much athleticism and skill as any number of other sports. Just because you don't enjoy doesn't mean other people don't.

I don't shit all over your F1/NASCAR/other sport I don't give two shits about thread, please don't shit all over mine.

6/30/2012 9:13:30 PM

Quote :

"Bicycle racing requires at least as much athleticism and skill as any number of other sports. "

or a fuckton of steroids

6/30/2012 9:59:18 PM

^Actually there is quite a bit of evidence that doping in cycling is at an all-time low over the last two years. At best, doping has been reduced so that the effects of it are minimized. The cleanest team in the peloton just finished winning the Giro d' Italia in April which flat out wouldn't have been possible in the days of Lance domination. Of course, I know you are just trolling.

Quote :

"Yeah, Cavendish being on the same team as Wiggins probably hurts him for a lot of the intermediate sprint points, but I think he'll still have a shot at a lot of the sprint finishes since Wiggins will have to be near the front in a lot of stages if he expects to win the GC."

I read something recently that said Cavendish had lost 10-15 lbs over the last month or so to get prepared for the olympics and become a little bit more of an all-arounder rather than a pure sprinter. He also got beat 2-3 weeks ago in straight up sprints which is unheard of for him. And as I am typing this, he just got beat at an intermediate sprint point by Goss. I'd be surprised if he wins a single stage to be honest.




For those looking for a legit American contender for GC, Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Sharp) has been looking good this season and Ryder Hesjedal is Canadian and I think he has a great chance.

[Edited on July 1, 2012 at 9:53 AM. Reason : d]

7/1/2012 9:52:16 AM

Cancellera is such a stud. When he wants to open up distance he just does, the way he cruised away from the pelaton was impressive. It's a shame he's not a stronger climber.

What should have been a pretty boring stage actually ended up stringing the field out a bit because of crashes and a nasty little uphill finish.

Most of the big names finished up near the front and Peter Sagan takes stage 1 in his first ever TDF.

7/1/2012 11:59:18 AM

Saying doping is at an all time low in cycling is like being the smartest kid in the special ed class.

7/1/2012 12:18:11 PM

Either contribute to the thread or GTFO. As is the case with most of the posting you do in sections outside of chit chat, you don't have a goddamn clue what you are talking about.

^^ Yep, Cancellara is great. Hate to see him tow Sagan away from the group and then get pipped at the line, but Sagan looked damn good too. He was the only "sprinter" left after that hill at the end. I didn't expect him to be able to climb like that. If he can do that and also contend in the bunch sprints, he will be the man.

7/1/2012 5:27:08 PM

Old video, but check out how Cancellara drops Boonen back in the 2010 Tour of Flanders while staying in the saddle. Boonen is climbing out of the saddle about to come to a complete stop. Cancellara rides away and solos to the finish.

7/1/2012 6:48:57 PM

looks like somebody's butthurt because their sport is a fucking joke filled with juiced up frauds

[Edited on July 1, 2012 at 7:28 PM. Reason : ]

7/1/2012 7:28:21 PM

Looks like your troll attempt has only been moderately successful thus far.

7/1/2012 7:31:15 PM

Quote :

"^Actually there is quite a bit of evidence that doping in cycling is at an all-time low over the last two years. has yet again evolved past detection methods through peptides and gene doping"

you're talking about a group of athletes that are willing to die of high hematocrit levels from EPO use and blood doping. They're not going to stop cheating; they're merely getting better at avoiding detection.

7/2/2012 12:22:38 AM

I didn't say that doping had stopped. Riders are still getting caught so clearly that isn't happening. However, the effects of doping are absolutely much much lower than in the EPO heyday. The biological passport system has helped make huge strides in rider's inability to dope the way they used to.

W/kg is a measure of how much power a cyclist can put out for his body weight. Some scientists argue that the max measurement a clean athlete can produce is 6.2W/kg over a 20 min period. During the time when EPO use was at an all-time high '95-'07ish, athletes were regularly logging climbs of 40 minutes or more with 6.6W/kg and up. That's not even elite athletes like Lance or Ulrich. The winner of this year's Giro d' Italia, another three week grand tour like the Tour de France, maxed out at 5.6W/kg on one of the climbs in April. And W/kg numbers have dropped significantly for riders across the board.

Incidentally, the times for some of those high W/kg climbs were, just in terms of times the fastest ever. For example, in 1997, Marco Pantani set the current record up the Alpe d'Huez, which is a famous French climb often featured in the Tour de France, at 37:35. Times were close during the Armstrong years, but that time has stood even as technology and aerodynamics and bike weight have all improved at least 10 fold over the last 15 years. Over the last five years, you have seen the times drop to where the top riders can't even break 41 min on that climb these days.

Again, this doesn't prove there is no doping, but it is evidence that suggests whatever doping methods are being used are no longer the super drugs they used to be. I'm as cynical as they come when it comes to doping in cycling, but I genuinely believe that a clean rider today has a legit shot to win races.

7/2/2012 7:37:39 AM

Hey, how about that Mark Cavendish!

Really impressive bunch sprint win without a leadout train. Even at 8 or 9 lbs. lighter he still looks to have the legs to outsprint the field.

On another note, it's kind of surprising how many guys have already been injured in these first couple of stages.

7/2/2012 1:14:07 PM

Yep, not a Cav fan, but that was a great sprint. Looks like he is the man to beat once again for the bunch sprints. That was Greipel's to lose and he managed to do it.

7/2/2012 2:11:06 PM

Another impressive win by Sagan, I laughed out loud at the running man celebration.

News article that backs up alot of what I said about a cleaner Tour this year.

http://news.discovery.com/adventure/tour-de-france-drugs-120629.html

7/3/2012 11:48:47 AM

Who gives a fuck about grown men riding bicycles?

7/3/2012 12:00:42 PM

Who gives a fuck about the worst team in the history of the NBA? Somehow there's a 24 page thread about it. Hmm, maybe some people have different interests than you. (yeah, yeah, successful troll is successful).

If you don't want to participate in the thread then don't.

7/3/2012 12:18:39 PM

I had no idea this thread existed (came over from the Lounge). I'll be watching it for sure.

7/3/2012 4:22:46 PM

Nasty crash at the end took out Cavendish and allowed Sagan to extend his lead in the green jersey competition. Fortunately it looks like no one was injured.

No shake ups in the overall lead. Sylvain Chavenel made a late attempt to separate from the pack and get himself into yellow before the bunch sprint, but was tracked down.

Cancellera stays in yellow, Sagan in green, and Morkov in polka dot.

7/4/2012 12:54:55 PM

dude will just have to shoot more juice tonight to catch up after that fall

7/4/2012 2:08:48 PM

it's no wonder that bitch dumped you

7/4/2012 11:11:49 PM

Missed stage 7, but after the first couple of true mountain stages the real quality is starting to show. Wiggins stays in yellow after claiming it yesterday.

Another big name out of it today as Samuel Sanchez, my pick to repeat as king of the mountains is done following a crash.

The youngest rider in the race, Thibault Pinot wins the stage after an impressive break away. Evans tried to attack Wiggins at the end and make up 11 seconds to start last in tomorrow's time trial but was unable to do so.

Tomorrow's time trial should be another big show down between Wiggins and Evans.

7/8/2012 11:29:06 AM

Good to see Evans attacking today...every second counts and starting last in the time trial would've been nice. Should be a lot of fun when it gets to the high mountains.

7/8/2012 2:41:14 PM

Real shame to see it whittled down to just those two after the nasty crash on Friday. I have no doubt guys like Hesjedal, Gesink and maybe even Schleck would still be there if they hadn't got caught out.

My money is still on Evans, but he needs to show it at the TT tomorrow. Thus far, Sky has proven to have the team to beat and its gonna be hard for Evans to go 1 on 3-4 every single summit.

Hope to see Garmin with some stage hunting in the upcoming week. I think Dan Martin and Christian VDV could both have a decent chance to grab a stage.

7/8/2012 2:51:15 PM

Nissan-radioshack actually looked strong today, they had a lot of guys up there in the Wiggins/Evans chase group. I wonder if maybe there isn't a chance that Schleck could still get back in this thing....

Of course, he would have to ride the time trial of his life tomorrow and then have a hellacious win in the mountains, but his team was certainly supporting him today. With the strength they showed today there is a chance for several guys on that team to have a shot at a podium finish.

7/8/2012 3:06:36 PM

Even if Schleck had the best TT of his career tomorrow, he will lose big time (minutes) tomorrow and in the next TT. The Schlecks have always been terrible TTers. He hasn't come even close to showing he can compete with them in the mountains either. He might have a chance at grabbing a stage, but his GC hopes are over.

Nibali still has a slight chance at GC, particularly if Evans or Wiggins has a bad day, but he is probably gonna lose significant time in the TT tomorrow although I hope I am wrong just for excitement's sake.

7/8/2012 3:48:16 PM

anyone know of a live NBCSports network feed? I am in a hotel for the next two weeks that doesnt have the channel. I would be good with either a live feed of the 8-11pm coverage or a replay of the morning/afternoon coverage.

7/8/2012 7:35:07 PM

7/8/2012 10:03:27 PM

^^Check out http://steephill.tv. No NBC feed, but eurosport feeds have better commentary anyways.

I actually broke down and bought the NBC TDF ipad/iphone app. Live NBC feed in crystal clear HD, but it cost $15

7/8/2012 11:10:05 PM

Wiggins wins the stage 9 time trail and now leads Evans by 1m 53s in the tour. Amazing ride by Wiggins and by his teammate Chris Froome who both topped Fabian Cancellera. Very surprising, Spartacus usually dominates the TT. The late guys definitely had the advantage of knowing the splits and it showed.

Evans relatively poor time trial may have doomed his chances at repeating. He'll really need to pull out some magic in the mountains to win this year's tour.

7/9/2012 1:55:18 PM

Yeah. Pretty otherworldly performance by Wiggins. It's a shame because it's gonna be very difficult for Cadel to have a chance.

On the other hand, we should see some fireworks in the mountains as guys like Nibali and Evans will be forced to attack hard to see if they can get some time on Wiggins.

7/9/2012 2:42:14 PM

I think it's still quite early to be counting Evans out. The race still has to go into the high mountains and you could easily lose 2-3 minutes on a bad day. That being said, this race doesn't have a lot of mountain-top finishes. Having Froome at the top, in terrific form, makes it that much more difficult.

GO CADEL!!

7/10/2012 6:04:59 PM

sleepyhead how is Sebastian doing?

7/10/2012 6:34:32 PM

I'm not totally counting him out. I am rooting for him big time, but it is a tall order to get not only the time he has lost back, but also get another 1:30-2min that he may lose in the final TT to wiggins.

Especially with the way the whole Sky team has been riding, something disastrous would have to happen to them for Evans to get 3-4 min at this point.

7/11/2012 8:57:56 AM

Nice move by Nibali and Sagan today, pity it resulted in no gain. Tomorrow should be an exciting mountaintop finish, with a few big climbs before the last one.

^^ Sebastian is doing great, he's one happy Corgi!

7/11/2012 7:09:44 PM

Great stage win today by Millar. Love seeing something good happen to Garmin this tour. It had been a disaster for them till today.

Loved watching yesterday, but hate that Wiggins and Froome have no competition at this point. Sky is just too dominant in the mountains. I think Evans had an off day and will probably compete for a stage win in an upcoming stage, but he couldn't afford to lose that time.

Funny thing is, Froome looks stronger than Wiggins and had he gone yesterday on the final climb before he got called back to tow Wiggins, he would be in yellow today. Same thing happened in the Vuelta last year, and Froome re-signed with Sky shortly after, so it's his own fault.

7/13/2012 11:35:58 AM